Booktalk1: Graphic Novel-American Born Chinese

In the parable of ancient China, the Monkey King is desperate for……..
In the 21centery America, Jin and Danny is desperate for……
Seeking their identity

Number of reviews: Average Rating: ♣♣♣♣♣
A National Book Award finalist
ALA's Printz Award winner,

Author Description
Gene Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 1997, he received the Xeric Grant, a prestigious comics industry grant, for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks, his first comics work as an adult. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan's Kingdom (with art by Derek Kirk Kim) and The Rosary Comic Book. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his lovely wife, Theresa, and son, Kolbe, and teaches computer science at a Roman Catholic high school.

I really enjoyed this book a lot, I liked the story intertwined at the end. A great graphic novel for all readers.
Gene Luen Yan talked about his graphic book as :
With American Born Chinese, I'm trying to say something about my experiences growing up as an Asian-American by telling three different stories. The first stars the Monkey King, folk hero of Chinese legend; the second recounts the struggles of a Chinese-American boy trying to fit into a predominantly white suburb; and the third is a sit-com starring everybody's favourite racial stereotype, Cousin Chin-Kee.

In the parable of ancient China, the Monkey King is desperate for recognition by the other deities who refuse to see him as anyone but a funny monkey—so he decided to prove them they are all wrong. Jin is a modern-era kid who just moved to a new school and discovered that it’s not easy being the Chinese-American student at any school. He felt alone.
And Danny is a typical high school basketball player whose life is perfect until his cousin Chin-Kee comes to visit from China, forcing Danny to change school as a result to escape the stigma attached to him. They’re three very different roles—but they’re all wanting the exact same thing. Identity.

I like a response from the legendary Neil Gaiman, the multi-award-winning writer of graphic and text novels:
I like the bit where the author says that he hasn't read the comic in question, but he just knows what things like that are like. It's always best to be offended by things you haven't read. That way you keep your mind uncluttered by things that might change it."